PRS-T1 I completely blocked my reader

[giovaorama]

Hi guys,
I'm stucked.
I try to root my PRS-T1 with the Rupor Firmware.

The installation of the AMR went smooth.

Then I install also the APP2SD and then after the reboot the reader remain on the white screen with the circular arrows until I press the home button and then it open the "sony" home screen with out any images. I can navigate just between the two pages of the home screen: any selected button do not make anything.

The reader is not recognized by the PC so I can't restore in the "normal" way.
I try the sd restore from uboot but I can see the power button blinking but no activity on the sd card.... I let it running for more than an hour and it never reboot or stop blinking (I try three times).

My fault, I don't make the backup before rooting.

Please guys, suggest me something to do!

I can't loose my reader

[giovaorama]

Even a "console" procedure it will be ok....I don't have any problem with the command line and linux.

I think that the problem is that it can't read anymore its partitions.

If I connect it under linux I can see three partitions (even Windows see them). But I can't mount them.

[46184.288014] usb 1-3: new high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci_hcd
[46184.433308] scsi10 : usb-storage 1-3:1.0
[46185.433841] scsi 10:0:0:0: Direct-Access Sony PRS-T1 2001 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[46185.435208] scsi 10:0:0:1: Direct-Access Sony PRS-T1 SD 2001 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[46185.437206] scsi 10:0:0:2: Direct-Access Sony PRS-T1 Setting 2001 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[46185.437736] sd 10:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
[46185.440891] sd 10:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
[46185.443912] sd 10:0:0:2: Attached scsi generic sg6 type 0
[46185.505710] sd 10:0:0:2: [sdf] Attached SCSI removable disk
[46185.508707] sd 10:0:0:1: [sde] Attached SCSI removable disk
[46185.523701] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk

[rupor]

If AMR installation was successful - you should see 3 pages not two.

If AMR is not successful - it is more than likely that when you were trying to apply Apps2SD your system partition did not have enough free space to install kernel modules or new vold. So now you have unfinished installation...

Try to connect via serial gadget - and take a look at logs (logcat or dmesg - regular Linux way).

This may give some idea of what is wrong and how to correct it.

[giovaorama]

Originally Posted by rupor

If AMR installation was successful - you should see 3 pages not two.

If AMR is not successful - it is more than likely that when you were trying to apply Apps2SD your system partition did not have enough free space to install kernel modules or new vold. So now you have unfinished installation...

Try to connect via serial gadget - and take a look at logs (logcat or dmesg - regular Linux way).

This may give some idea of what is wrong and how to correct it.

Thanks for your answer.
I reboot using the sd from "rupor_rescue".
In attachment the output for dmesg

This is the output from version_check.sh

[root (ttyGS0)]# version_check.sh
NAND :1.0.04.12210
MBR :N/A
uBoot :1.0.00.09010
Boot Env :1.0.00.09010
Reserved1 :N/A
Normal Kernel :1.0.04.12210
Normal Rootfs :1.0.00.09010
Recovery Kernel :1.0.00.09010
Reserved2 :N/A
Normal Boot Env :1.0.00.09010
Recovery Boot Env :1.0.00.09010
Raw Data Table :1.0.00.09010
Info :1.0.00.09010
Id :1.0.00.09010
Reserved3 :N/A
Boot Image :1.0.00.09010
Waveform :1.0.00.09010
LOG :N/A
Recovery Rootfs :1.0.00.09010
Diag :1.0.00.09010
READER :1.0.00.09010
fonts :1.0.00.09010
dictionaries :1.0.00.09010
SETTING :1.0.00.09010
preload :1.0.00.09010
data :1.0.00.09010
system :1.0.04.12210
EPD :0706A400030B01233C31
Sub CPU (firmware) :2011/08/09 :32
Sub CPU (updater) :2011/05/31 :1
OK

Using the same rescue firmware with Diskinternals Linux Reader I can see the disk. So in this way under linux I can mount them and modify them as needed.

I see which command I have in this console and the script "factory_reset.sh" seems to be very interesting!

Should I run it?

[rupor]

I never tried running factory_reset.sh this way and I do not think it will help, but since you could see the disks - you could recover any partition by simply using DD, and that includes /system partition. I think you could obtain "fresh" system partition form Sony firmware update package - take a look here.

[giovaorama]

Originally Posted by rupor

I never tried running factory_reset.sh this way and I do not think it will help, but since you could see the disks - you could recover any partition by simply using DD, and that includes /system partition. I think you could obtain "fresh" system partition form Sony firmware update package - take a look here.

Sorry, I can't understand what I should use from the thread that you suggest me.

Could you give me some more hints?

Thanks in advance

[rupor]

giovaorama
You can take image of Sony firmware upgrade (from Sony site) and using tools from the thread extract system.img and data.img out of it. Then using DD and recovery mode you could attempt to recover you device...

[giovaorama]

I will try that as soon as I'm back to home and I can use my pc with linux.

Do you know if there is any particular parameter to give to dd, or just something like

dd if=file of=/dev/device

will be enough?

If I have success, I'll write an HOWTO on this thing

[rupor]

Will be enough - search for dd on this forum, you'll see a lot of examples...

[belgianreader]

Hi, I'm new here and have discovered this thread after Googling a problem I have with my PRS-T1 reader; the problem seems most similar to what is described in this thread. If any of you has a suggestion, this would be most appreciated.

My reader is more than a year old. I rooted it shortly after I purchased it, without problem. I lost track of the procedure I followed at the time, as there were no issues. Also, I don't remember the firmware version any more.

Last week, my reader ran out of battery. After charging it fully, it turned on again, showing "opening book" first and big rotating arrows afterwards. It never leaves this state any more.

What have I done till now?

1) I've downloaded sdcard-rescue.zip and extracted this on an SD card. The reader boots from this SD card (using home+menu) without problem. Using Linux, I can mount all partitions, and using minicom, I can access a recovery console. This is my partition table:

Disk /dev/mmcblk2: 1958 MB, 1958739968 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 59776 cylinders, total 3825664 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/mmcblk2p1 51200 71679 10240 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk2p2 71680 92159 10240 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk2p3 92160 866687 387264 5 Extended
/dev/mmcblk2p4 866688 3825663 1479488 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk2p5 92176 124991 16408 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk2p6 125008 403583 139288 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk2p7 403600 424127 10264 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk2p8 424144 506111 40984 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk2p9 506128 604479 49176 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk2p10 604496 866687 131096 83 Linux

When I run version_check.sh, I get this:

NAND :1.0.00.09270
MBR :N/A
uBoot :1.0.00.09270
Boot Env :1.0.00.09270
Reserved1 :N/A
Normal Kernel :1.0.00.09270
Normal Rootfs :1.0.00.09270
Recovery Kernel :1.0.00.09270
Reserved2 :N/A
Normal Boot Env :1.0.00.09270
Recovery Boot Env :1.0.00.09270
Raw Data Table :1.0.00.09270
Info :1.0.00.09270
Id :1.0.00.09270
Reserved3 :N/A
Boot Image :1.0.00.09270
Waveform :1.0.00.09270
LOG :N/A
Recovery Rootfs :1.0.00.09270
Diag :1.0.00.09270
READER :1.0.00.09270
fonts :1.0.00.09270
dictionaries :1.0.00.09270
SETTING :1.0.00.09270
preload :1.0.00.09270
data :1.0.00.09270
system :1.0.00.09270
EPD :07065A00031A02233C31
Sub CPU (firmware) :2011/09/19 :33
Sub CPU (updater) :2011/05/31 :1
OK

2) I've reformatted the READER and data partitions. After booting the reader again, I found that the data partition was repopulated. However, the reader still doesn't leave the rotating arrows state.

3) I downloaded an SD restore package (restore-set-1.0.03.11140). I copied mmcblk2p10.img and mmcblk2p9.img to the corresponding partitions on the reader using dd if=mmcblk2p10.img of=/dev/sdb10, where /dev/sdb10 was the device that was allocated on my Linux desktop to the system partition of the reader. I verified that the partition was overwritten. However, the reader still doesn't leave the rotating arrows state.

4) I downloaded SD recovery packages for 1.0.05 and 1.0.04 as well, and tried step 3) for these packages as well. No effect. I haven't found restore packages for 1.0.00.09270 yet.

I'm at a loss what to try next. It would be very useful if I could have access to the log files of the reader when it is booting without the rescue SD. Unfortunately the reader never gets in a state where I could run or install an app for viewing log files. I cannot access the reader when I don't use the rescue SD. This appears in the log file of my Linux machine when I attach the reader:

[702894.005325] usb 3-1: new high-speed USB device number 106 using xhci_hcd
[702894.028413] usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=054c, idProduct=05c2
[702894.028417] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[702894.028419] usb 3-1: Product: Sony Digital Book Reader
[702894.028421] usb 3-1: Manufacturer: Sony
[702894.028422] usb 3-1: SerialNumber: 148427501439450
[702894.035082] usb-storage 3-1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[702894.035216] scsi94 : usb-storage 3-1:1.0
[702895.035713] scsi 94:0:0:0: Direct-Access Sony PRS-T1 2001 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[702895.037671] scsi 94:0:0:1: Direct-Access Sony PRS-T1 SD 2001 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[702895.039589] scsi 94:0:0:2: Direct-Access Sony PRS-T1 Setting 2001 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[702895.039960] sd 94:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[702895.040254] sd 94:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[702895.040432] sd 94:0:0:2: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[702895.064542] sd 94:0:0:1: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[702895.097540] sd 94:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[702895.112572] sd 94:0:0:2: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk

I cannot mount sdc, sdb or sdd, however.

While using SD rescue, I ran fsck on all partitions. Most are clean, except for the cramfs partitions:

- for the Diag partition (/dev/mmcblk2p2):
warning: file extends past end of filesystem
fsck.cramfs: crc error

- for the fonts partition:
warning: file extends past end of filesystem

I however hesitate to arbitrarily download an image of a Diag partition from the Internet and put that on the device. Is the Diag partition involved in ordinary booting?

Any advice would be welcome.

[ebmr]

Originally Posted by belgianreader

Is the Diag partition involved in ordinary booting?

No, only when booting into recovery mode without an SD card image to be mounted.

[uboot]

Except from data and reader partitions, all partitions are read only and should not need fsck.

If rooted, then system partition may get corrupted, too of course, but only if you remount it writable...


Nonetheless - your reader may have corrupted flash memory - like my T1.

You can check this in recovery console via dd if=/dev/mmcblk2 of=/dev/nul

Also, dmesg will show mmcblk i/o errors then...

[belgianreader]

Thanks for the fast feedback.

I've also overwritten the Diag partition, to no avail.

I've run dd if=/dev/mmcblk2 of=/dev/null. The result of this is:

3825664+0 records in
3825664+0 records out

there are no error messages while running dd. The only noticeable messages produced by dmesg may be:

ALSA device list:
No soundcards found.
regulator_init_complete: incomplete constraints, leaving PWR2_CTRL on
regulator_init_complete: incomplete constraints, leaving PMIC_TEMP on
regulator_init_complete: incomplete constraints, leaving LDO11 on
regulator_init_complete: incomplete constraints, leaving LDO7 on
regulator_init_complete: incomplete constraints, leaving LDO6 on
regulator_init_complete: incomplete constraints, leaving LDO5 on
regulator_init_complete: incomplete constraints, leaving LDO3 on
regulator_init_complete: incomplete constraints, leaving LDO2 on
regulator_init_complete: incomplete constraints, leaving LDO1 on
EXT4-fs (mmcblk2p1): recovery complete
EXT4-fs (mmcblk2p1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
VFS: Mounted root (ext4 filesystem) on device 179:65.
Freeing init memory: 116K
EXT4-fs (mmcblk2p1): re-mounted. Opts: (null)
EXT4-fs (loop0): mounted filesystem without journal. Opts: (null)
Buffer I/O error on device loop0, logical block 1
lost page write due to I/O error on loop0
EXT4-fs (loop0): re-mounted. Opts: (null)
EXT4-fs (loop0): previous I/O error to superblock detected
Buffer I/O error on device loop0, logical block 1
lost page write due to I/O error on loop0
EXT4-fs (loop0): re-mounted. Opts: (null)

Are these messages common using the SD card based recovery console? To the best of my understanding, loop0 is not on the reader?

[uboot]

Congrats, your internal flash is fine Regulator errors are normal.

But it looks like there are errors on your external sd card (I guess loop0 refers to the update.img file of the sd rescue image.)


Anyways - be carefull with recovery images. They only recover the system and data partitions.

But some firmware updates also update the kernel which is in RAW partition (aka first 24MB of unpartitioned space in mmcblk2).

And if kernel and system partition do not match, you may get rotating arrows as well.

According to your run of version_check, your reader is on initial firmware release, so try to find a matching recovey image first.



Also, the data partition of the recovery images is not empty. It may be better to only restore mmcblk2p10 and format reader and data partitions like factory reset does via

mkfs.ext4 -L data -m 0 -j /dev/mmcblk2p9
mkdosfs -n READER -F 32 /dev/mmcblk2p4

[belgianreader]

The closest system image I've found till now is 1.0.00.09010. I've put it on the system partition and reformatted the data and READER partitions. Unfortunately, without effect. Rotating arrows and no idea how to debug this... thanks for the advice in any case, I also have myself to blame for not keeping track of the modifications I did last year.